Baybayin

Synopsis: Baybayin is set in the pristine coast of El Nido, Palawan. It tells the story of two half sisters (played by real-life siblings Assunta and Alessandra de Rossi) who fall in love with the same man (Adrian Sebastian) who is deaf mute. Having no way of communicating with the love of their lives, both women learn Baybayin — an ancient Palawanon script — and communicate with him by writing in that script.

MTRCB Rating: R-13

Trailer:

Reviews:

5.0 Albert Bryan (Chikkaness Avenue)

“Baybayin is indeed an accomplished masterpiece and moving characterization that deserves moviegoers attention.” (Read full review)

4.0 Yasmin Arquiza (GMA News)

“This is where the power of this film lies–the ability to communicate simple messages that have been lost in the din of modern gadgets and the pursuit of money.” (Read full review)

3.5 Noli Manaig (Closely Watched Frames)

“Baybayin is a sumptuous feast of, and for, the senses. It’s not merely an ocular-centric experience, but rather, a tactile, haptic, and sometimes auditory one for the viewer.” (Read full review)

3.0 Epoy Deyto (Kawts Kamote)

“Busong was fantastic, and this work proves that he has found his comfort zone, but apparently, it never really had a great effect on me.” (Read full review)

2.5 Philbert Dy (Click the City)

“While the movie upholds a worthy cause, it does so at the expense of the narrative. The story is shortchanged, the journey of the sisters feeling truncated and underdeveloped.” (Read full review)

2.0 Skilty Labastilla (Young Critics Circle)

“Baybayin is too studied, too affected for its own good. Even though I liked Busong, I felt then that it was teetering towards exoticism. Baybayin doesn’t just teeter, it dives into exotica with no apologies.”

2.0 Oggs Cruz (Twitch)

“Baybayin is a mess enveloped in pretty pictures. Solito mixes ethnography, lyricism and some traditional narrative devices and arrives at something confused and confusing.”

1.75 Ira Lastrilla (Cinephiles)

“Nearly everything here, from Diwa de Leon’s tourist-music score to Alessandra de Rossi’s Cosplay contacts, serves a merely decorative function. No wonder we learn so little about the curiously fascinating language in the film, or the Palawan community itself and its conflicts with the outside world — portrayed as a gross generalization.”

1.5 Nico Quejano (Cinephiles)

“After Busong, this one was a big disappointment. Aureus should really be careful. Thin line between going back to his roots and exoticizing the Palawan culture. This movie was more the latter than the former. That Baybayin (movie) has nothing to do with the Baybayin (Palawan script), is basically where my disappointment is stemming from. Even worse, Baybayin was butchered by the actors. And can I just say: Palawan’s Pillow Book. (Love the song, though).”